Chapter 7

CHAPTER VII

Schism in the church--Ambitious views of Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti--The pope and the Romans come to an agreement--Boniface IX. introduces the practice of Annates--Disturbance in Lombardy-- The Venetians acquire dominion on terra firma--Differences between the pope and the people of Rome--Council of Pisa--Council of Constance--Filippo Visconti recovers his dominion--Giovanna II. of Naples--Political condition of Italy.

A schism having thus arisen in the church, Queen Joan favored theschismatic pope, upon which Urban caused Charles of Durazzo, descendedfrom the kings of Naples, to undertake the conquest of her dominions.Having succeeded in his object, she fled to France, and he assumed thesovereignty. The king of France, being exasperated, sent Louis ofAnjou into Italy to recover the kingdom for the queen, to expel Urbanfrom Rome, and establish the anti-pope. But in the midst of thisenterprise Louis died, and his people being routed returned to France.In this conjuncture the pope went to Naples, where he put ninecardinals into prison for having taken the part of France and theanti-pope. He then became offended with the king, for having refusedto make his nephew prince of Capua; and pretending not to care aboutit, requested he would grant him Nocera for his habitation, but,having fortified it, he prepared to deprive the king of his dominions.upon this the king pitched his camp before the place, and the popefled to Naples, where he put to death the cardinals whom he hadimprisoned. From thence he proceeded to Rome, and, to acquireinfluence, created twenty-nine cardinals. At this time Charles, kingof Naples, went to Hungary, where, having been made king, he wasshortly afterward killed in battle, leaving a wife and two children atNaples. About the same time Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti murderedBernabo his uncle and took the entire sovereignty upon himself; and,not content with being duke of Milan and sovereign of the whole ofLombardy, designed to make himself master of Tuscany; but while he wasintent upon occupying the province with the ultimate view of makinghimself king of Italy, he died. Boniface IX. succeeded Urban VI. Theanti-pope, Clement VI., also died, and Benedict XIII. was appointedhis successor.

Many English, Germans, and Bretons served at this period in the armiesof Italy, commanded partly by those leaders who had from time to timeauthority in the country, and partly by such as the pontiffs sent,when they were at Avignon. With these warriors the princes of Italylong carried on their wars, till the coming of Lodovico da Cento ofRomagna, who formed a body of Italian soldiery, called the Company ofSt. George, whose valor and discipline soon caused the foreign troopsto fall into disrepute, and gave reputation to the native forces ofthe country, of which the princes afterward availed themselves intheir wars with each other. The pope, Boniface IX., being at enmitywith the Romans, went to Scesi, where he remained till the jubilee of1400, when the Romans, to induce him to return to the city, consentedto receive another foreign senator of his appointing, and also allowedhim to fortify the castle of Saint Angelo: having returned upon theseconditions, in order to enrich the church, he ordained that everyone,upon vacating a benefice, should pay a year's value of it to theApostolic Chamber.

After the death of Giovanni Galeazzo, duke of Milan, although he lefttwo children, Giovanmaria and Filippo, the state was divided into manyparts, and in the troubles which ensued Giovanmaria was slain. Filipporemained some time in the castle of Pavia, from which, through thefidelity and virtue of the castellan, he escaped. Among others whooccupied cities possessed by his father, was Guglielmo della Scala,who, being banished, fell into the hands of Francesco de Carrera, lordof Padua, by whose means he recovered the state of Verona, in which heonly remained a short time, for he was poisoned, by order ofFrancesco, and the city taken from him. These things occasioned thepeople of Vicenza, who had lived in security under the protection ofthe Visconti, to dread the greatness of the lord of Padua, and theyplaced themselves under the Venetians, who, engaging in arms with him,first took Verona and then Padua.

At this time Pope Boniface died, and was succeeded by Innocent VII.The people of Rome supplicated him to restore to them their fortressesand their liberty; but as he would not consent to their petition, theycalled to their assistance Ladislaus, king of Naples. Becomingreconciled to the people, the pope returned to Rome, and made hisnephew Lodovico count of La Marca. Innocent soon after died, andGregory XII. was created, upon the understanding to renounce thepapacy whenever the anti-pope would also renounce it. By the advice ofthe cardinals, in order to attempt the reunion of the church,Benedict, the anti-pope, came to Porto Venere, and Gregory to Lucca,where they made many endeavors, but effected nothing. Upon this, thecardinals of both the popes abandoned them, Benedict going to Spain,and Gregory to Rimini. On the other hand, the cardinals, with thefavor of Balthazar Cossa, cardinal and legate of Bologna, appointed acouncil at Pisa, where they created Alexander V., who immediatelyexcommunicated King Ladislaus, and invested Louis of Anjou with thekingdom; this prince, with the Florentines, Genoese, and Venetians,attacked Ladislaus and drove him from Rome. In the head of the warAlexander died, and Balthazar Cossa succeeded him, with the title ofJohn XXIII. Leaving Bologna, where he was elected, he went to Rome,and found there Louis of Anjou, who had brought the army fromProvence, and coming to an engagement with Ladislaus, routed him. Butby the mismanagement of the leaders, they were unable to prosecute thevictory, so that the king in a short time gathered strength and retookRome. Louis fled to Provence, the pope to Bologna; where, consideringhow he might diminish the power of Ladislaus, he caused Sigismund,king of Hungary, to be elected emperor, and advised him to come toItaly. Having a personal interview at Mantua, they agreed to call ageneral council, in which the church should be united; and havingeffected this, the pope thought he should be fully enabled to opposethe forces of his enemies.

At this time there were three popes, Gregory, Benedict, and Giovanni,which kept the church weak and in disrepute. The city of Constance, inGermany, was appointed for the holding of the council, contrary to theexpectation of Pope John. And although the death of Ladislaus hadremoved the cause which induced the pope to call the council, still,having promised to attend, he could not refuse to go there. In a fewmonths after his arrival at Constance he discovered his error, but itwas too late; endeavoring to escape, he was taken, put into prison,and compelled to renounce the papacy. Gregory, one of the anti-popes,sent his renunciation; Benedict, the other, refusing to do the same,was condemned as a heretic; but, being abandoned by his cardinals, hecomplied, and the council elected Oddo, of the Colonnesi family, pope,by the title of Martin V. Thus the church was united under one head,after having been divided by many pontiffs.

Filippo Visconti was, as we have said, in the fortress of Pavia. ButFazino Cane, who in the affairs of Lombardy had become lord ofVercelli, Alessandria, Novara, and Tortona, and had amassed greatriches, finding his end approach, and having no children, left hiswife Beatrice heiress of his estates, and arranged with his friendsthat a marriage should be effected between her and Filippo. By thisunion Filippo became powerful, and reacquired Milan and the whole ofLombardy. By way of being grateful for these numerous favors, asprinces commonly are, he accused Beatrice of adultery and caused herto be put to death. Finding himself now possessed of greater power, hebegan to think of warring with Tuscany and of prosecuting the designsof Giovanni Galeazzo, his father.

Ladislaus, king of Naples, at his death, left to his sister Giovannathe kingdom and a large army, under the command of the principalleaders of Italy, among the first of whom was Sforza of Cotignuola,reputed by the soldiery of that period to be a very valiant man. Thequeen, to shun the disgrace of having kept about her person a certainPandolfello, whom she had brought up, took for her husband Giacopodella Marca, a Frenchman of the royal line, on the condition that heshould be content to be called Prince of Tarento, and leave to her thetitle and government of the kingdom. But the soldiery, upon hisarrival in Naples, proclaimed him king; so that between the husbandand the wife wars ensued; and although they contended with varyingsuccess, the queen at length obtained the superiority, and became anenemy of the pope. Upon this, in order to reduce her to necessity, andthat she might be compelled to throw herself into his lap, Sforzasuddenly withdrew from her service without giving her any perviousnotice of his intention to do so. She thus found herself at onceunarmed, and not having any other source, sought the assistance ofAlfonzo, king of Aragon and Sicily, adopted him as her son, andengaged Braccio of Montone as her captain, who was of equal reputationin arms with Sforza, and inimical to the pope, on account of hishaving taken possession of Perugia and some other places belonging tothe church. After this, peace was made between the queen and thepontiff; but King Alfonzo, expecting she would treat him as she hadher husband, endeavored secretly to make himself master of thestrongholds; but, possessing acute observation, she was beforehandwith him, and fortified herself in the castle of Naples. Suspicionsincreasing between them, they had recourse to arms, and the queen,with the assistance of Sforza, who again resumed her service, droveAlfonzo out of Naples, deprived him of his succession, and adoptedLouis of Anjou in his stead. Hence arose new contests between Braccio,who took the part of Alfonzo, and Sforza, who defended the cause ofthe queen. In the course of the war, Sforza was drowned in endeavoringto pass the river Pescara; the queen was thus again unarmed, and wouldhave been driven out of the kingdom, but for the assistance of FilippoVisconti, the duke of Milan, who compelled Alfonzo to return toAragon. Braccio, undaunted at the departure of Alfonzo, continued theenterprise against the queen, and besieged L'Aquilla; but the pope,thinking the greatness of Braccio injurious to the church, receivedinto his pay Francesco, the son of Sforza, who went in pursuit ofBraccio to L'Aquilla, where he routed and slew him. Of Braccioremained Oddo, his son, from whom the pope took Perugia, and left himthe state of Montone alone; but he was shortly afterward slain inRomagna, in the service of the Florentines; so that of those who hadfought under Braccio, Niccolo Piccinino remained of greatestreputation.

Having continued our general narration nearly to the period which weat first proposed to reach, what remains is of little importance,except the war which the Florentines and Venetians carried on againstFilippo duke of Milan, of which an account will be given when we speakparticularly of Florence. I shall, therefore, continue it no further,briefly explaining the condition of Italy in respect of her princesand her arms, at the period to which we have now come. Joan II. heldNaples, La Marca, the Patrimony and Romagna; some of these placesobeyed the church, while others were held by vicars or tyrants, asFerrara, Modena, and Reggio, by those of the House of Este; Faenza bythe Manfredi; Imola by the Alidossi; Furli by the Ordelaffi; Riminiand Psaro by the Malatesti; and Camerino by those of Varano. Part ofLombardy was subject to the Duke Filippo, part to the Venetians; forall those who had held single states were set aside, except the Houseof Gonzaga, which ruled in Mantua. The greater part of Tuscany wassubject to the Florentines. Lucca and Sienna alone were governed bytheir own laws; Lucca was under the Guinigi; Sienna was free. TheGenoese, being sometimes free, at others, subject to the kings ofFrance or the Visconti, lived unrespected, and may be enumerated amongthe minor powers.

None of the principal states were armed with their own proper forces.Duke Filippo kept himself shut up in his apartments, and would notallow himself to be seen; his wars were managed by commissaries. TheVenetians, when they directed their attention to terra firma, threwoff those arms which had made them terrible upon the seas, and fallinginto the customs of Italy, submitted their forces to the direction ofothers. The practice of arms being unsuitable to priests or women, thepope and Queen Joan of Naples were compelled by necessity to submit tothe same system which others practiced from defect of judgment. TheFlorentines also adopted the same custom, for having, by theirfrequent divisions, destroyed the nobility, and their republic beingwholly in the hands of men brought up to trade, they followed theusages and example of others.

Thus the arms of Italy were either in the hands of the lesser princes,or of men who possessed no state; for the minor princes did not adoptthe practice of arms from any desire of glory, but for the acquisitionof either property or safety. The others (those who possessed nostate) being bred to arms from their infancy, were acquainted with noother art, and pursued war for emolument, or to confer honor uponthemselves. The most noticed among the latter were Carmignola,Francesco Sforza, Niccolo Piccinino the pupil of Braccio, Agnolo dellaPergola, Lorenzo di Micheletto Attenduli, il Tartaglia, Giacopaccio,Cecolini da Perugia, Niccolo da Tolentino, Guido Torello, Antonia dalPonte ad Era, and many others. With these, were those lords of whom Ihave before spoken, to which may be added the barons of Rome, theColonnesi and the Orsini, with other lords and gentlemen of thekingdoms of Naples and Lombardy, who, being constantly in arms, hadsuch an understanding among themselves, and so contrived toaccommodate things to their own convenience, that of those who were atwar, most commonly both sides were losers; and they had made thepractice of arms so totally ridiculous, that the most ordinary leader,possessed of true valor, would have covered these men with disgrace,whom, with so little prudence, Italy honored.

With these idle princes and such contemptible arms, my history must,therefore, be filled; to which, before I descend, it will benecessary, as was at first proposed, to speak of the origin ofFlorence, that it may be clearly understood what was the state of thecity in those times, and by what means, through the labours of athousand years, she became so imbecile.